Very small nail in rear tire, What's best to do?

[willowstreetguzziguy]

I've had a small leak in my rear tire that takes the 40lbs. of air pressure down to 25 lbs. in 3 days. Today I found the problem... a 1/16" diameter nail that is in there, smooth as the tire, and is allowing a small amount of air to escape (soap & bubbles). What should I do? If I remove it, will air gush out more than it is now or will it seal itself. Or should I take it out and be ready to plug it with a tire repair kit?

[Bisbonian]

I've had a small leak in my rear tire that takes the 40lbs. of air pressure down to 25 lbs. in 3 days. Today I found the problem... a 1/16" diameter nail that is in there, smooth as the tire, and is allowing a small amount of air to escape (soap & bubbles). What should I do? If I remove it, will air gush out more than it is now or will it seal itself. Or should I take it out and be ready to plug it with a tire repair kit?

I would take the nail out and plug the whole with one of the sticky string plug kits.

But that's just me, you will get a wide variety of thoughts on this.

[LowRyter]

if it's tubeless, plug it. 

Keep air in it until you can plug it.

[Tom]

There are those that would plug it and others that would put on a new tire.  I've done both depending on the tread of the tire.

[RayB]

It won't get better on its own. Just plug it

[Ncdan]

I have plugged several in the past and ran them until they were worn out, with no further problems. That being said, the more professional way is to take the tire off the rim and put a hot patch on from the inside. Assuming it is a tubeless tire and it must be if it does not go down immediately when putting air in.

[Lannis]

I would use a Dyna-Plug plug to plug such a hole.   The Dyna-Plug is a "sticky string"-type plug, but it has a pointed brass tip to allow it to be inserted into a small hole such as the one you are describing with minimal impact to the tire.

The normal "sticky string" plug, that you can buy in any auto-parts store and I suspect was designed with car tires in mind, requires you to take a tool to your little 1/16" hole, and hog it out with a "reamer" to something much larger so that you shove the doubled string into the hole.

I just hate doing that.   My tire has minimal damage with the little brad in it, but I have to take a great 3/16" reamer and rip it in and out of the hole, leaving chunks of rubber behind, to use the sticky string.   For all I know, I'm damaging cords or plies or something that didn't need to be damaged when I use a Dyna-Plug.

But that's just me.

Lannis

[nbags]

i would at least do a patch plug repair,or replaced the tire.tire should be dismounted and inspected to make sure that no damage done to side wall. thats my opinion

[giusto]

My first question would be ....how many miles are on the tire? second what kind riding do you do? any gravel roads?

If it was me I'd be thinking about the repair way to often so I'd buy a descent brand new tire and never think about it again

Then I'd hang the tire up in the yard and give my kid a target for his quarterback prowess.

[Triple Jim]

If the tire were nearly new, I'd dismount it and patch it from the inside, also filling the hole with either a plug or some rubber adhesive.  I went to the trouble of getting materials to patch tubeless tires, as well as the rotary rasp to prepare the inside surface of the tires a few yeas ago, so I'd need to put my investment to use.   

If the tire were nearly worn out, I'd probably do nothing other than inflate it before each ride, and get ready to put the new tire on.

(typed in parallel with giusto above)

[Tom H]

My MC only tire shop guy said not to use a plug type patch, if you do he can not repair the tire. With this said, it appears there is a newer style patch that does not require the large hole to put the plug in. I'm going to look into that.

So: if it were ME, I'd take the tire/rim assembly to my tire guy and have him patch the tire if it was a tire that was less than half worn.

If over half worn out and with the driving that I do, I would get a new tire if money was not a problem. If the money is tight, then I'd have it properly patched and ride until the tire is worn out.

I'm not very good at changing the tire on the rim. Many bad tries at it. Though each time succeeding with a tool or two across the yard I'd rather my tire guy do the change. I'll put the assembly back on the bike.

Just my 2 cents,
Tom

[redrider90]

15#s in 3 days is not a slow leak by my standards.  I'd fix it if the tire has more thread life than the price of fixing it with a patch.

[Green1]

If you plug it and I would,i would use one of the new style plugs,little more expensive to use but they can't come out.

[Triple Jim]

If you plug it and I would,i would use one of the new style plugs,little more expensive to use but they can't come out.

Yeah, that pretty much qualifies as patching it from the inside and sealing the hole.   

[Lannis]

So: if it were ME, I'd take the tire/rim assembly to my tire guy and have him patch the tire if it was a tire that was less than half worn.

Just my 2 cents,
Tom

I've tried that many a time, but have never found a motorcycle tire guy that would patch a tire.

The liability is too great in case of failure after (he says), and he would MUCH rather sell you a new tire anyhow (I say).

Car tires, yes; seldom does a failed interior patch on a car tire cause a wreck.   Motorcycle tire failures, on the other hand ....

Lannis

[luthier]

Just have it repaired at a tyre shop for god's sake. Never fix tyres and never fix car exhausts. Jeebus.

[rocker59]

Like Lannis said, it's real unusual to find a shop in The USA that will repair a motorcycle tire.

I carry a plug kit in my bag for these instances.  The string plugs have worked for me many times over the years.

[LowRyter]

stop n go   

https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Go-1075-Standard-Plugger/dp/B0018EUDHW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474903531&sr=8-1&keywords=stop+n+go+tire+plugger

[drw916]

We'll, I'll chime in from the otherside.  You have two tires that keep you upright.  Do you really want to risk a future problem just to save a few dollars.  Problably will never happen, but what if it does?  A tire will cost what, $150.00 new?  Cheap insurance as I see it.

[JJ]

A plug is fine, and will work temporarily...but your LIFE rides on your tires. - - so for me, I would replace the tire and be done with it. :1: 

Cheap insurance and peace of mind in the long run.

[LowRyter]

I've never heard of a catastrophic failure due to a plugged tire.   When the plug doesn't work it's usually a slower leak than the original nail.  I've had perhaps 6 or 8 plugged motorcycle tires over the years.  I've never gotten rid of a tire.  A couple of times they wouldn't keep air and had to be replaced and a couple others wore out prematurely probably because the were ridden with low air before the puncture was discovered. 

Is it me or does it seem like motorcycles are more likely to get flats than cars?

[Tom]

The plug/patch combo is the best.  Otherwise the mushroom plugs work well.  I've used the string type plugs with success but that was for a short period of time till I could put a new tire one.  This all depends on the type of riding that you're doing.  For me, it depends on the conditions of the type of riding too.

[old as dirt 2]

plug only if your on the road and then get to a shop or home and replace.

having another failure when running on a plugged tire could have dire consequences.

[Tom H]

I agree that replacing the tire is the safest method. As mentioned, a car is not normally going to fall over if one tire goes flat. A bike on the other hand.

The tire shop I go to said he can patch "most" punctures. I was new to tubeless and jokingly said that it's nice to be able to plug the tire on the road. He said that if I use one of the plugs that need to have the hole enlarged that he would not be able to patch it. I do not remember the exact reason why. He also hates Slime BTW.

So, if this is a slow in town bike, a patch, or even a plug, could be the way to go. If it's a high speed freeway bike, replacement would be the better safer choice.

Now it's up to the op on which way to go.
Tom

[wymple]

No problem with a plug or a patch. Both work well on car tires which flex a whole lot more than a bike tire does. (unless you like to run on half flat tires).

[old as dirt 2]

He also hates Slime BTW.

So, if this is a slow in town bike, a patch, or even a plug, could be the way to go. If it's a high speed freeway bike, replacement would be the better safer choice.

Now it's up to the op on which way to go.
Tom

I also hate slime as I change a lot of tires for folks.
on to the "in-town" plug. a failure can still happen and even at 30 mph can and will hurt also cause body damage to the bike that can cost big bucks.
any loss of air in a tire when going around a corner is bad.

[Triple Jim]

Plugs are being described here as likely enough to cause a catastrophic failure as to be ruled out as a safe option.  Similar to at least one post somewhere above, I've driven on plugged tires for thousands of miles, on both cars and motorcycles, and never had one fail in a mode other than a slow leak, and even that was rare.

[Texas Turnip]

I knew when this thread started that it wouldn't be long before someone would say<"if you value your life replace the tire." As others have done, I've also patched/plugged many tires and that was running two up pulling a KwikKamp.

A shop said their insurance didn't allow them to patch tires. I said I wanted to see a copy of their insurance! I'm too old to bullship me.

Tex

[Sasquatch Jim]

  If the tire is more than half worn, replace it.
 If  you are going for the repair, leave the nail in until the tire is off the rim.  That way it will be easy to find the hole.
 Remove the nail and patch from the  inside.  Air pressure will help hold the patch in place after it is re inflated.

[leafman60]

I have plugged a many a tubeless tire, both auto and motorcycle.  I typically use a standard, string-type plug as available in places like Walmart and plugged holes in the tread portion of the tires.  I've never had such a plug come out or cause any subsequent problem.

On more than one occasion, I have been traveling with friends who picked up nails and tried to patch with fancy plug guns only to find that the fix didn't work and I came to the rescue with my trusty Walmart plug.

Of course, tube-type tires are different.  The tube needs to be removed and patched.  However, I use tire sealer in my tube-type tires and I have never been stranded on the road with a tube tire puncture.  I've had several nails in my tubes etc. over the years, but the sealer (Slime etc.) kept the tire up.  In fact, I have carried nails about which I didn't know until I changed the tire!